I also have posted the same thread on a few other drum forums I hang out in so I apologize if this is a duplicate for you

It really just took on a life of it’s own, it has taken me 2 years of hunting to get to this point.

I know the real question is why? I never intended for it to get to this point. But before I knew it was so close I figure what the heck, I’ll go all the way now.

Here is the story,

About 2 years agoI was surfing eBay as I always do and spotted a 22x14 Superstar bass drum for $75.00. I figured at that price I would buy it and re-sell it. Later that day I spotted a 15”standard depth matching tom for $75.00 so I figured, at that price I could add another tom and have a cool vintage 4 piece kit. I found a 10” tom a few days later and contact the seller of that tom and asked if he had any more of the kit. He sent me this

I ended up making a deal so now I have basically a double basskit with power toms and one 15 standard depth.

Then I started thinking how cool it would be to have a matching set of standard toms. I would then have the option to pick and choose what I wanted to play. I found a 13” tom and grabbed it. Meanwhile I saw a 22x16 shell on eBay for next to nothing, I figured I would use the hardware off of the 22x14 and have both my kicks be deep.

Somewhere along the way I spotted the 6 &8 concert toms on a stand for $150.00

Here is where it gets really interesting. I searched high and low for a 12” standard depth tom, these are very hard to come by I would soon find. In my search I found this kit on Craigslist for 350.00.

Here is a pick after I got it home, I could not believe my eyes, it is a Rosewood snare, worth more then I paid for the entire kit!

I was short the 14" standard tom, I found one on ebay and it turned out to be a a friend from the TAMA forum so I grabbed that.
I realized at this point with the exception of a couple of bass drum hoops and some lugs I had one double bass standard depth kit and one power tom double bass kit. I found a guy selling the lugs for the bass drum and ordered a few hoops form Anderson International.

Here is a link to some close ups so you can see the main reason for the restoration

Here they are again all stripped and ready for the next phase. I used a chemical stripper call SuperStrip, this stuff is high dangerous, it took a month of evenings to get them to this point. The Polyurethane paint is really tough stuff

Well I was a sanding fool this weekend, I originally tried a pneumatic orbital sander. I was far to aggressive and I was afraid I would end up with flat spots and other unevenness so I started sanding by hand. I got 5 drums in and realized this was a HUGE task. So I took a chance and picked up a cheap electric orbital sander. Wow it works great!
It still took a long time but it was 100 times faster and easier. I got then fairly clean. Of course where the stain was down in the pours I had to let it go, I did not want to sand through the first ply or change the OD to much. I am really please wit the results. Now I have to fix a few places where there is some minor ply separation on a few of the shells. I am going to dowel in the tom mount holes on the bass drums so they will then be virgin as well as dowel in the spur holes. the spurs on these kits did not really hold the drums from moving to well. Other then that and using RIMS to mount the toms it will look like two a brand new 80s TAMA superstar Super Mahogany kits

I made some progress today. Wednesday I received some base drum shells scraps. Today I spent some time at a friends house cutting plugs to fill in the tom mount holes and original spur holes. I am planning on getting some dowle tomorrow.

That is an awesome project............all the hard work and money is going to make for a beutiful, one of a kind set. Very nice..............I am excited to see the stain bring out the wood grain. Are you sticking with FiberSkyn heads?

I don't think I am with with this kit. I have a vintage Rogers Holiday kit I am going to re-wrap and set up for Jazz, I will on that kit.

For the bass drums I plan on going with the stock looking mirrored reso with the original TAMA Superstar logo. I had a very cool person on the TAMA forum give me an original style bass drum logo sticker I will reproduce.

On the back I will most likely go with Evans G2 clears with a Remo Flam Slam and a small DW style pillow.

I will go with Evans G1 clear on the reso for all of the toms. On the standard depth toms I will go with Evans G2 coated. I and still up in the air on the power toms, I am torn between going with Remo Pinstripes, these were the head of choice for power toms back in the day. Or the Evans G2 clear, a little more controlled or the G2 coated, much more focused and controlled. I think I will pick a tom and get one of each and try them, I will decide with my ears.

Well I got all of the holes parched up. I used a piece of birch drum shell I got from Anderson International to make the large plugs and used dowel for the small holes. They came out as I had hoped. I know there is no way to make it 100% invisible but I plan on covering with stain and these should blend well since they are the same type of wood.

Well I got all of the holes parched up. I used a piece of birch drum shell I got from Anderson International to make the large plugs and used dowel for the small holes. They came out as I had hoped. I know there is no way to make it 100% invisible but I plan on covering with stain and these should blend well since they are the same type of wood.

Here is what the spur hole patches look like

And here is what the tom mount hole patches look like

I understand plugging the holes for the toms mounts, especially if you are getting away from direct mount and going to a tom suspension mount.

What are you doing with the kick if you are covering the spur mount holes?

I thought I would address something I remember from history. (I was around then too...)

After recording some landmark albums with his Tama superstar, Peart moved to artstar (briefly), and then to Ludwig and then DW*.

Since you are restoring the superstars: What are your thoughts on the sound vs today's drums (like starclassic?)

I have always disliked industry "trends" and I think that the differences/advantages have been overstated, especially when microphones and recordings are thrown into the equation. Note that many drum companies (especially sonor) are once again offering heavy or "stadium" shells.

Superstar comments?

Thanks...!

*These seem like "money" moves to me. I remember a LOT of faithful Peart followers boiling mad when he switched.

I played the 5 piece you see in the picture for a few months before I took it apart.

To be honest I really did not think about how it compared but just how it sounded on it's own. They are great sounding drums.

The quality of these drums is undeniable. I will have more to say when I get them done when it come to sound.

I will be interested to find out. I remember the hype when the industry changed the drum shell formats. And recently, the trend has been to offer "stadium" shells just as if it was a superstar kit to begin with. People have lauded the GMS stadium shells for a few years now.

I would like to think that what something like DW collectors drums added in midrange presence, they lost in projection and volume. If anything, I believe the Tama superstars will project better than DW collectors or SC.

Were I doing such a project I would have to get an 18" and 20" BD even if they didn't match woods exactly. Then when you do the finishes they'd all match perfectly.

Can you go a little deeper into the stripping process? I'm thinking of stripping and refinishing a few drums myself. One is luckily naked, but I have other potentials that would need me to strip the clear.

As for the bass drums, I hear you. I was thinking about transforming one of the 16" to a kick since I have 3.

To address the stripping question. I used chemical stripper first then sanded. I would never do it that way again

I picked up the 10" standard tom after all of the rest were stripped. I decided to just try the sander and no stripper first. Trust me, this is the only way to go.

Use an orbital sander and 220 paper. Just keep the sander moving to you do not get any flat spots. The 10" was aqua marine so I had to sand in inside as well. The entire thing took about 20-30 min. It even came out cleaner then the rest. Just realize you can not get 100% of the stain out most of the time. You do not want to sand through the first ply.

What a giant project you got there. I see lots of time and bucks have already been spent. I put in $300 bucks in the Ludwig restoration and there still remain several small imperfections. Too bad about the job climate, we'll all hope employment waits just around the corner for you, not only for you but for us that're excited to see the finished project. BTW, thanks for the heads up about this thread.